Ryoji Aikawa (Yakult) received a phone call from Koji Yamamoto. He plans to begin his workouts in the new year in early January instead of mid-January. Source: Sanspo 12/3/2012

Aikawa's primary job will not be to play, but rather to help Shinnosuke Abe and to provide the team with whatever other support he can, like analyzing opponent hitters. He plans to leave Japan on January 8 for workouts in Saipan. Source: Sponichi 12/3/2012

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The first player Yamamoto plans to visit during spring camp in early February is Masahiro Tanaka (Rakuten). Source: Sanspo 12/3/2012

He will spend about a week visiting eight training camp locations in Okinawa before moving on to Miyazaki for the remaining four training camp locations. New candidates could pop-up during his visits. Source: Sponichi 12/3/2012

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Masahiro Tanaka will most likely wear the number eleven. Yu Darvish wore the number eleven during the 2009 WBC. Source: Nikkan Sports 12/3/2012